a new start for the new year

BEFORE

       I've been toying with the idea of cutting my hair for what seems like years... I always imagine doing it, but then chicken out. I'll see my long, golden locks, and will suddenly be petrified at the idea of losing them... I come up with a million excuses: what about making braids? Or throwing it up into a pony-tail for sports or rushed mornings? What if I cut it and it looks horrible?

There's a reason why monks and nuns and spiritualists shave their hair off. Hair is not just vanity, it's weight, it's the past clinging to you. That long hair has been growing for years... I'd estimate that the the tip of my hair now was just growing from my hair follicles in  middle schools... That's a lot of dead weight to be carrying around. Sure, the past was wonderful, and nostalgia is a great thing...

... But I'm feeling like I'm in a new chapter of my life. I've finished college, I had an epic, life-changing experience in Glacier, and now I'm in the real world: working, living, making a place for myself. But I'm also a new girl, since Glacier I think... and it was in Glacier that I first started thinking of cutting my hair... I'm more adventurous, more willing to take risks, I know myself better. And I don't just want to live life, anymore. I want to love life, not shy away from fear and difficulty. My new years resolution this year was to be truthful. Always. No matter how bad it makes me look, or how hard it might be. not to be afraid of what other people think...

... and in this pursuit of truth, and rejection of fear, I thought what better way to celebrate lunar new year, and God's Day, than to cut my hair. Physically cut off the old, stale me. Shed the weight holding me back, etc...

But it would be a shame to just throw out all that hair, no? When there are so many people who have no hair, whose hair has been taken from them, through cancer and birth defects. So I decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes hair prostheses for children suffering from hair loss.

Joachim took one last picture of my hair, for memories sake:

and I let it all go.... 

I took Joachim to school, and before I could chicken out went straight to the hair salon with a picture of what I wanted, and the Locks of Love guidelines. I had a lovely Korean stylist, and we talked in Korean the whole time, much to the amazement of everyone in the salon. In a way, it seems fitting that a Korean should be the one cutting off all that hair that was grown in Korea.

and here is the finished result.

AFTER

I love it! My hair feels fresh, bouncy, and wonderful! And I feel wonderful too. So for all of you who have been afraid to cut off your hair, all I can say is: Just do it! It's fun, it's fresh, and if you look ridiculous, hey, it'll grow back.